CA Democrat Incumbent Using Republican Brand to Fool Voters

In southern California, an incumbent Democrat state legislator appears to be running as a Republican in order to get reelected.

Prominently picturing Mitt Romney, Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln on campaign flyers addressed to California “Republicans,” and featuring the California Republican Assembly logo, Democrat Mike Gatto lists his own name in a ballot-style list of Republican candidates for federal and state office. This campaign literature has appeared on the weekend before the election.

A reasonable inference from the flyers is that Gatto is a Republican endorsed by the California Republican Party. Nowhere do the flyers identify Gatto as a Democrat. In fact, Greg Krikorian is the Republican endorsed candidate for local state assembly office.

This flyer suggests that even a local state district in California may not be as solidly blue as polls would have us believe. And, like the Tea Party influence in 2010, Romney’s coattails may sweep many Republicans into office all the way down the ballot to local dogcatcher…even in California.